“Come out.”

Violet’s voice was calm, like she already knew I was there.

I froze for a second, my eyes widening.

“Aestrea, I know you’re up there.” She glanced up at the ceiling where I had been hiding.

She was totally calm now.

Well, that makes one of us.

Plop!

I dropped down to the ground, the invisibility barrier around me disappearing.

“How did you know?” I asked, still a little shocked.

“My eyes.” She pointed to her violet gems.

Ah…

I almost forgot about her damnly overpowered talent.

“You are the only one who has a completely silver color. No one else was like that.”

And if that wasn’t enough, she also explained the reason why she knew that it was me and nobody else.

Violet studied me for a moment, and then she gave me a tired, almost forced smile.

“I didn’t expect you to be on the same train as me.”

“…I didn’t expect you to be so easily threatened.”

I replied back shortly.

Her smile faltered, just for a second.

“Ouch. That really hurts.”

I just shrugged, sitting down next to her.

It wasn’t like I had the time to sugarcoat things.

“So… mind telling me what’s going on with your mom?” I asked, getting straight to the point.

“Why is she in the Emperor’s hands?”

Violet’s face darkened.

She frowned deeply and let out a long sigh.

“It’s all because of the Luxuria Family’s success. The Emperor couldn’t stand how much wealth we were making. He felt threatened by it, so he took my mom. Said he’d kill her unless we gave him 50% of everything we earned.” She paused, looking away.

“He’s been using her as leverage.”

Her voice sounded defeated.

But she wasn’t done.

“And of course, with him holding her, others jumped in to threaten us too. Just like the Prime Minister you saw earlier. They think they can get away with it because we’re vulnerable.”

“I see…”

“So, you’re stuck. Can’t even deal with the Emperor without putting your mom at risk.” I gave her a sidelong glance.

“And no one’s strong enough to back you up.”

She gave a bitter laugh, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Exactly. Even the Sword Duke is more powerful than my family. No one can stand up to him… except Eleonora.”

Ah, right.

That damned cheat code of a Headmistress.

“Is that the reason you joined the Eternum Academy?” I raised an eyebrow, trying to keep my tone casual.

“…Partly, yes. I was hoping to get closer to her, build a good relationship so I could ask for her help later.” She shrugged, shaking her head.

That made something click in my mind.

And that immediately made something come to mind.

The reason she also approached me.

The way she’d been acting around me, all friendly and kind of flirtatious… it was all part of her plan.

“…Is that also the reason you came after me?” I asked quietly, already knowing the answer but wanting to hear her admit it.

She didn’t say anything right away.

Just stayed silent.

In the end, she was trying to use me as some kind of tool.

It made me sick to my stomach.

I stared up at the ceiling and let out a frustrated sigh.

I truly thought that she was interested in me, but no, she was interested in my power.

It wasn’t much different than my old world.

I should’ve known better.

Why had I let myself be so naive?

I was so stupid to believe in it.

Fuck…

“Anyway… How about we make a deal then?” I asked in a calm tone.

She looked at me curiously.

“What kind of deal?”

“If I save your mother, you let me take one item from your auction house. How about that?” I asked faintly.

Her eyes widened for a moment.

“Save my mother? Do you even understand how impossible that is—?”

“Almost impossible,” I interrupted her, giving her a pointed look.

“But if there’s even the tiniest chance, I believe I can do it.”

I’m totally not putting all of my confidence in my Time Attribute.

Still, I knew it would take time.

More than I had at the moment.

“But of course, to do it, it will take a few months.”

I still need to increase my mana to increase the time that I use Time Freeze.

Her brow furrowed slightly, and she looked at me with a weird gaze.

“The auction is in two months. Do you really think you can pull it off by then?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“…Probably.”

I could try and get materials that might help me increase my mana, but they were ridiculously expensive.

My measly 4,000 platinum coins wouldn’t even cover the cost of three.

Wait a second…

‘System, is there any way to use the Scan function on more than one thing at a time?’

I asked, hoping there was a way around it.

[Yes, but the selected information needs to be locked in order to do so.]

‘…Alright then. For now, even though I can’t use it, lock the information—Effects, Details, and Name.’

[Done.]

That’s a start.

With that sorted, I realized I needed to make a quick stop.

It was time to take care of a few things before moving forward.

I turned to Violet.

“One day before the auction, I’ll make sure to bring your mother to you.”

She brightened up instantly at my confidence.

Probably cause she knew that I was telling the truth.

“Deal.”

She smiled and shook my hand firmly, like she trusted me completely.

I smiled back and nodded, then decided it was time to go.

There were still other things I needed to take care of, so my trip to Silverleaf wasn’t going to be a short one.

I glanced at the map and saw the next stop.

“Hellbrick?” I muttered to myself.

Weird name, but whatever.

I shook my head and turned back towards my cubicle, deciding to take a little time to relax before we got there.

There was still an hour left.

Meditation seemed like the best way to kill the time and clear my head.

I could think about everything later.

For now, I needed to focus and prepare myself.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

“Alright, let’s go and search for a hotel.”

I spoke solemnly.

We had just gotten off the train and arrived in Hellbrick.

And honestly…

It looked like the kind of place where shady deals could happen right under the sun. It had this cowboy kind of vibe

Like in Red Dead Redemption…

Ahem.

And yeah…

The people were indeed wearing cowboy hats.

It took a while, but we quickly found a hotel.

“Alaine, go ahead and check us in. Just let me know the room number later. I’ve got a couple of things to take care of,” I told her, crouching down to pat Chaerin’s head.

“I’ll be back soon, okay?” I said with a smile.

“Mhm!” she nodded, her eyes shining.

I smiled back, then turned to leave.

“We’ll be waiting, Master!” Alaine called out, and I waved my hand in response.

Then, I started looking around.

Hellbrick felt off.

The place was close to a volcano, so I figured there might be fire-related mana items around here. That was probably where I should head.

As I walked through the streets, I kept my eyes open for anything useful.

“Yo, lad,” a rough voice suddenly called out.

I turned and saw a man with a cowboy hat, eyeing me up.

“Your clothes seem pretty expensive. How much for a share?” he asked, a grin spreading across his face.

I frowned.

An A-ranker in a place like this?

But soon, I noticed something on his neck.

A moon tattoo…

And that somehow…

Bothered me.

“Hey… what’s up with that moon tattoo on your neck?”

The words slipped out of my mouth before I could realize it.

“Hah?” The man raised an eyebrow before grinning.

“It’s because I love the mo—!”

—BANG!

A shot rang out, a giant hole was blasted through his chest, effectively killing him.

Phew…

I lowered my gun slowly, blowing on the barrel.

“I’m sorry, but only I get to put moon tattoos on my body.”

(A/N: Aestrea’s way of saying… There can only be one of us in townnn…)

I had bought a mana revolver just in case I needed to use my gunslinger abilities.

“… Pathetic.”

I mumbled, scoffing at his dead body.

I didn’t know why I didn’t like him having a moon tattoo…

Agh!

Fucking hell.

I really needed to figure out my relationship with the Goddess of the Moon.

Because that?

That was pure possessiveness.

After taking a deep breath, I continued walking, pushing the weird feeling to the back of my mind.

And then… I saw something interesting.

By the rocks, something caught my eye.

I knelt down and saw a small, glowing object.

[Name: Red Slayer’s Dungeon Key]

[Effects: Opens the portal to the “Red Slayer Dungeon”.]

[Details: Transfer mana into this key to open the portal to the high-level “Red Slayer Dungeon”.]

High-level?

What did that even mean?

[It refers to system grading. Low-level is F~E rank, Intermediate-level is D~B, and High-level is A~S rank.]

Ah…

So, this could potentially be an S-rank dungeon?

…There might be some good drops then.

Without wasting any time, I grabbed the key and formed an invisibility barrier around myself.

The radius stretched out to about ten meters.

I pushed mana into the key…

—Whoosh!

A red swirling portal appeared in front of me.

“Alright… let’s see what’s on the other side.”

I jumped into the red portal.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep